Aqua Escape

Chapter 1: Memories Left Behind

"Will you hand me that box, dear?" my mother, Carmen, asked as she turned around with an almost sheepish smile on her face.

Blowing my hair out of my face in exasperation, I handed her the rather small box. We were currently loading the last of our personal belongings into our truck. Yes, we'd never lived luxuriously; my mother was a single mother, struggling to provide for both of us.

All our belongings fit in a truck. Mom had sold our furniture at a yard sale, so the only things left were our clothing.

We were moving across the country. I was leaving Seattle, Washington and entering the uncertainty of Sanibel, Florida. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with the abrupt decision to move.

Mom had been working as a Marine Biologist in Seattle at a local Aquarium. She had been sustaining me alone. My dad, Alexander, died before I was born, battling Leukemia for less than a year. I'd always been in desperate need of a father figure in my life.

Mom had been offered a better-paying job in Sanibel, Florida, as the manager of Aqua Kingdom, an aquarium located in Sanibel.

I could say it was sort of convenient we were moving during summer; July Sixteenth, to be exact. That way I wouldn't have to adjust in the middle of a school year.

I'd never had many friends in Seattle; I was a reclusive sixteen-year-old bookworm. That made it easier to leave; I had no one I would hurt with my sudden departure.

I would miss my home, nevertheless; it was all I knew. "Mom, I'll be right back," I hurried to say.

Mom smiled. "Don't take long, Luna," she said understandingly.

I never ceased to ask my mother how I came to be named Luna. I loved hearing the story over and over again.

When my Mom was pregnant with me, my father was already battling with Leukemia. She was very depressed. The doctor's had told her that he only had months to live. It was a sure thing that he wouldn't see me live.

Mom stressed over this. My father assured her everything would be alright; he told her that whenever she missed him, she look at the moon. He said he'd be there, staring back at her with all the love in his eyes. He explain that his love for us was unmeasurable. My mom said his love for us was always expressed in his blue eyes, and I could see that.

I pulled out a crinkled old picture of my father and my mother, who was pregnant with me at the time. I climbed up the stairs, clutching it tightly in my fist. I made my way down the familiar path to my room. I could have a blindfold on and I would still know my way to it.

I stood at the threshold, hit by a wave of nostalgia as I stared at the barren walls of my room. We had sold our house to strangers. In a few weeks, my room would be inhabited by a complete stranger.

Before I knew it, tears were trailing down my hot cheeks and a knot had formed at my throat. I held the photograph of my parents up to my face, staring into my father's crinkled blue eyes, his frail arms around my mother. I brought the picture to my lips and then placed it back into my pocket.

I sniffled, the sound echoing off the empty walls. I sighed shakily and wiped at the stray tears. Pulling my sweater tightly around myself, I exited my room, leaving behind broken childhood memories.

***

Soon, we were driving down the busy roads of Washington. I was sullen in the passenger seat, my headphones on as I stared out into the trees flashing past us. I was listening to the song "Primavera" by Natalia Lafourcade. I liked to keep in touch with my Latina side. My mother was Argentinean-American.